You've probably seen the age-old skit of a rat running past a girl and that girl leaping into her seat and yelling- right? Rats are usually portrayed as dreadful, bad, and disgusting animals – which, if they are inside your home or attic, they are. Aside from their bad rap, rats are known to be quite social animals, which is why if you see one rat, you probably have more hiding somewhere close by. Rats are not able to survive on their own, and studies have actually proven that when they are alone for prolonged periods of time they suffer from depression. A group of rodents is often referred to as a “mischief” – which should be a pretty good indicator of why you wouldn’t want them close to or inside your home. While many are frightened by the rat’s mean looking appearance due to their long gnarly teeth, these creatures are typically extremely shy and cautious. In fact, a rat is more likely to run from you than he is to turn around and bite you. As you may have seen in science experiments, rats also have a remarkable memory, they can retrace their steps and remember where food sources are; their extraordinary memory coupled with their innate sense of caution makes rats difficult to get rid of.

Rats are a mid-sized member of the rodent family, which the common mouse is also a part of. While it is possible to just tell the difference between a mouse or rat strictly by their size, rats will also have thinner bodies than mice as well as longer legs. Rats can be found all over the world, and vary in size; however rats are not known to be beneath 5 inches in length. There are over 60 different species of rats alone, not counting other species in the rodent kingdom.

Rats are typically nocturnal creatures, which means that they are most active at night. While rats prefer to feed on meat, they are omnivores and will eat vegetation as well. Rat population grows quickly, this is because female rats can produce up to 2,000 babies annually! How is this possible?? Unlike a human gestational period (pregnancy) of nine to ten months, rats have a gestation period of 21 to 26 days, and with each litter they produce at least 6 pups. This means that once the babies are weaned, the mother is able to start the process all over again.

As you can tell, a rat problem can go from minor to major pretty quick. This is why it is important to identify and rectify the issue before it gets out of hand. Which is why we created this very helpful article all about rats, that will help you identify rats and when you may have a problem.